Luisa Veras Stefani (born 9 August 1997) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. She is the first Brazilian woman to crack the WTA top 10. She made the milestone on 1 November 2021 when she rose two places to world No. 9 in doubles.[1] On 20 May 2019, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 431. She had a career-high combined junior ranking of No. 10, on 30 March 2015.

Luisa Stefani

Stefani at the 2019 French Open
Full name	Luisa Veras Stefani
Country (sports)	Brazil
Residence	Wesley Chapel, Florida, U.S.
Born	(1997-08-09) 9 August 1997 (age 25) São Paulo, Brazil
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Turned pro	2015
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 544,062
Singles
Career record	85–64 (57.0%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 431 (20 May 2019)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open Junior	2R (2015)
French Open Junior	2R (2014, 2015)
Wimbledon Junior	1R (2014, 2015)
US Open Junior	1R (2014, 2015)
Doubles
Career record	195–80 (70.9%)
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 9 (1 November 2021)
Current ranking	No. 55 (24 October 2022)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2020, 2021)
French Open	3R (2020)
Wimbledon	1R (2021)
US Open	SF (2021)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	(2020)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2021)
Wimbledon	2R (2021)
US Open	1R (2021)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	9–2
Medal record Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Doubles Pan American Games 2019 Lima Doubles
Last updated on: 24 October 2022.

Stefani is a bronze medalist in women's doubles from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Representing Brazil, she partnered with Laura Pigossi to defeat Veronika Kudermetova and defending gold medalist Elena Vesnina in the bronze medal match. Stefani and Pigossi were only granted entry to the Olympics one week before the 2020 Games opened, with Stefani ranked world No. 23 in the doubles ranking and Pigossi at No. 190, and had played together once, a defeat at the 2020 Fed Cup, and yet became the first Brazilians to obtain an Olympic tennis medal, surpassing the performance of Fernando Meligeni that took 4th place in men's singles in 1996. During the campaign they saved eight match-points: four in the bronze medal match, and another four against Czechs Karolína Plíšková and Markéta Vondroušová in the round of 16.[2][3][4]

Stefani is coached by Sanjay Singh, with whom she trains at the Saddlebrook Academies.[5]

Professional career

At the age of 14, Stefani's family moved to the United States, where it was hoped she would develop herself better in tennis. She started training at Saddlebrook Tennis Academy,[6] and eventually got to two junior Grand Slam semifinals on doubles, the 2014 French Open and the 2015 US Open. As she attended Pepperdine University, Stefani ranked as high as No. 2 in the ITA rankings, and was also named the 2015 ITA National Rookie of the Year, having compiled a 40–6 record in her freshman season and reached the semifinals of the 2015 NCAA Singles Championships, where she lost to eventual champion Danielle Collins.[7] Stefani made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2015 Brasil Tennis Cup where she received a singles main-draw wildcard.

2019

Until 2019, Stefani tried to play both singles and doubles. The doubles kept being more productive, and once an invitation to make her WTA debut in the 2019 Monterrey Open with Giuliana Olmos led to the semifinals and a ranking increase, she decided to stop playing singles so as to have more chances at appearing in bigger events. Soon afterwards Stefani made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at French Open, partnering Australian Astra Sharma in doubles.[6]

In September, with Hayley Carter as partner, she reached the first WTA doubles final at the Korea Open and, the following week, won the first WTA title at the Tashkent Open. With these campaigns, she entered the top 100 and reached a career-high ranking in doubles of No. 75 on 21 October 2019. Thereafter, Stefani established a fixed partnership with Carter.

2020

In 2020, the Stefani/Carter duo reached the Australian Open third round, won the Challenger Series title in Newport, reached the Dubai quarterfinals in February, and won the Lexington Open in August. With that, they entered the top 40 for the first time.[8][9]

At the US Open, she had her best Grand Slam campaign in her career, reaching the quarterfinals, defeating the No. 6 seeds Japan duo Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara in the round of 16.[10] It has been 38 years since a female doubles player from Brazil have gone as far in a Grand Slam tournament (the last time that Brazilians were in the quarterfinals was in Wimbledon in 1982: Patricia Medrado and Claudia Monteiro).[11]

At the Italian Open, she had another great tournament, reaching the semifinals and losing only to the top seeds.[12] She reached her first Premier final in October 2020, in Ostrava, playing with Gabriela Dabrowski.[13]

2021: Historic Olympics bronze medal, first WTA 1000 title & two more finals

Stefani and Carter reached their first WTA 1000 final at the 2021 Miami Open. Stefani had to pass on the French Open, after being forced to endure an emergency appendicitis surgery. With Carter getting a season-ending injury at Wimbledon, Stefani announced she would spend the rest of the year with Gabriela Dabrowski.[7]

At the postponed Tokyo Olympics, Stefani won a bronze medal, partnering Laura Pigossi. They beat Russians Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova, after saving four match points in the final super tiebreak. Pigossi and Stefani became the first Brazilians in history to obtain an Olympic medal in tennis, surpassing Fernando Meligeni's campaign that took 4th place in 1996.[14]

Following the Olympics, seeded fifth, Stefani won her first WTA 1000 partnering Dabrowski at the Canadian Open avenging their loss in the San Jose Classic final to Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac.[15] The following week, they followed this successful run by another, reaching the WTA 1000 final at the Cincinnati Open by defeating current Olympic champions, second seeded pair Krejciková/Siniaková. They lost the final to Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai.[16] The US Open had Stefani reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal and fifth straight in 2021, only to injure her knee in the decisive game against Coco Gauff and Caty McNally and withdraw.[17] Stefani had to sit out the rest of the season following a surgery to mend the anterior cruciate ligament injury.[18] Still in November, she rose to No. 9 of the doubles rankings. The only other Brazilian woman to rank so high was Maria Bueno, prior to the Open Era.[1][19]

2022: Return to the courts, second WTA 1000 title

After nearly a year recovering from her knee injury, Stefani announced her return to play at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2022, partnered with Ena Shibahara. Prior to that, she visited the US Open to train among the WTA's best players.[20] During the Grand Slam, she arranged with Dabrowski for both to play the 2022 Chennai Open the week before Tokyo.[21] Stefani returned to the courts winning the WTA 250 title in Chennai along with Dabrowski.[22]

Ranked No. 217 at the WTA 1000 in Guadajalara, playing with Storm Sanders, she reached an unprecedented Brazilian final at the WTA 1000 level with Beatriz Haddad Maia. Stefani and Sanders won the title after a highly contested match in the tie-breaker. As a result she returned to the top 100 moving more then 160 positions up to No. 55.[23]

Performance timeline

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.

Doubles

Current after the 2022 Guadalajara Open Akron.

Significant finals

Olympics medal matches

Doubles: 1 (bronze medal)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Bronze	2021	Tokyo Olympics 2020	Hard	Laura Pigossi	Veronika Kudermetova Elena Vesnina	4–6, 6–4, [11–9]

WTA 1000 tournaments

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2021	Miami Open	Hard	Hayley Carter	Shuko Aoyama Ena Shibahara	2–6, 5–7
Win	2021	Canadian Open	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	Darija Jurak Andreja Klepač	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2021	Cincinnati Open	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	Samantha Stosur Zhang Shuai	5–7, 3–6
Win	2022	Guadalajara Open Akron	Hard	Storm Sanders	Anna Danilina Beatriz Haddad Maia	7–6(7–4), 6–7(2–7), [10–8]

WTA career finals

Doubles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 2019	Korea Open, South Korea	International[lower-alpha 2]	Hard	Hayley Carter	Lara Arruabarrena Tatjana Maria	6–7(7), 6–3, [7–10]
Win	1–1	Sep 2019	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	International	Hard	Hayley Carter	Dalila Jakupović Sabrina Santamaria	6–3, 7–6(4)
Win	2–1	Aug 2020	Lexington Challenger, U.S.	International	Hard	Hayley Carter	Marie Bouzková Jil Teichmann	6–1, 7–5
Loss	2–2	Sep 2020	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	International	Clay	Hayley Carter	Nicole Melichar Demi Schuurs	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2–3	Oct 2020	Ostrava Open, Czech Republic	Premier[lower-alpha 3]	Hard (i)	Gabriela Dabrowski	Elise Mertens Aryna Sabalenka	1–6, 3–6
Loss	2–4	Jan 2021	Abu Dhabi Open, UAE	WTA 500	Hard	Hayley Carter	Shuko Aoyama Ena Shibahara	6–7(5), 4–6
Loss	2–5	Feb 2021	Adelaide International, Australia	WTA 500	Hard	Hayley Carter	Alexa Guarachi Desirae Krawczyk	7–6(4), 4–6, [3–10]
Loss	2–6	Apr 2021	Miami Open, U.S.	WTA 1000	Hard	Hayley Carter	Shuko Aoyama Ena Shibahara	2–6, 5–7
Loss	2–7	Aug 2021	Silicon Valley Classic, U.S.	WTA 500	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	Darija Jurak Andreja Klepač	1–6, 5–7
Win	3–7	Aug 2021	Canadian Open	WTA 1000	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	Darija Jurak Andreja Klepač	6–3, 6–4
Loss	3–8	Aug 2021	Cincinnati Open, U.S.	WTA 1000	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	Samantha Stosur Zhang Shuai	5–7, 3–6
Win	4–8	Sep 2022	Chennai Open, India	WTA 250	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	Anna Blinkova Natela Dzalamidze	6–1, 6–2
Win	5–8	Oct 2022	Guadalajara Open, Mexico	WTA 1000	Hard	Storm Sanders	Anna Danilina Beatriz Haddad Maia	7–6(7–4), 6–7(2–7), [10–8]

WTA Challenger finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2019	WTA 125 Houston, U.S.	Hard	Ellen Perez	Sharon Fichman Ena Shibahara	1–6, 6–4, [10–5]
Win	2–0	Feb 2020	WTA 125 Newport Beach, U.S.	Hard	Hayley Carter	Marie Benoît Jessika Ponchet	6–1, 6–3
Loss	2–1	May 2021	WTA 125 Saint-Malo, France	Clay	Hayley Carter	Kaitlyn Christian Sabrina Santamaria	6–7(4–7), 6–4, [5–10]

ITF Circuit finals

Doubles: 22 (15 titles, 7 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 2013	ITF São Paulo, Brazil	10,000	Clay	Nathália Rossi	Laura Pigossi Carolina Zeballos	3–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Jul 2016	ITF Campos do Jordão, Brazil	25,000	Hard	Maria Fernanda Alves	Ingrid Gamarra Martins Laura Pigossi	3–6, 6–3, [8–10]
Win	1–2	Sep 2016	ITF Atlanta, U.S.	50,000[lower-alpha 4]	Hard	Ingrid Neel	Alexandra Stevenson Taylor Townsend	4–6, 6–4, [10–5]
Loss	1–3	Jun 2017	ITF Sumter, U.S.	25,000	Hard	Ellen Perez	Kaitlyn Christian Giuliana Olmos	2–6, 6–3, [7–10]
Win	2–3	Jun 2017	ITF Baton Rouge, U.S.	25,000	Hard	Ellen Perez	Francesca Di Lorenzo Julia Elbaba	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–4	Jul 2017	ITF Auburn, U.S.	25,000	Hard	Ellen Perez	Emina Bektas Alexa Guarachi	6–4, 4–6, [5–10]
Win	3–4	Jul 2017	ITF Knokke, Belgium	15,000	Clay	Quinn Gleason	Leonie Küng Axana Mareen	6–4, 7–5
Win	4–4	Jul 2017	ITF Brussels, Belgium	15,000	Clay	Quinn Gleason	Deborah Kerfs Priscilla Heise	6–3, 6–2
Win	5–4	Aug 2017	ITF El Espinar, Spain	25,000	Hard	Quinn Gleason	Ayla Aksu Bibiane Schoofs	6–3, 6–2
Win	6–4	Oct 2017	ITF Seville, Spain	25,000	Clay	Renata Zarazúa	Estrella Cabeza Candela Andrea Gámiz	7–6(2), 7–6(3)
Win	7–4	Nov 2017	ITF Sant Cugat, Spain	25,000	Clay	Renata Zarazúa	Olga Danilović Guiomar Maristany	6–1, 6–4
Win	8–4	Dec 2017	ITF Castellón, Spain	15,000	Clay	Yvonne Cavallé Reimers	Ren Jiaqi Wang Xiyu	6–3, 6–1
Win	9–4	Jun 2018	ITF Sumter, U.S.	25,000	Hard	Astra Sharma	Julia Elbaba Xu Shilin	2–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Loss	9–5	Sep 2018	ITF Templeton, U.S.	60,000	Hard	Quinn Gleason	Asia Muhammad Maria Sanchez	7–6(4), 2–6, [8–10]
Loss	9–6	Oct 2018	ITF Stockton, U.S.	60,000	Hard	Quinn Gleason	Hayley Carter Ena Shibahara	5–7, 7–5, [7–10]
Win	10–6	Nov 2018	ITF Colina, Chile	60,000	Clay	Quinn Gleason	Bárbara Gatica Rebeca Pereira	6–0, 4–6, [10–7]
Win	11–6	Jan 2019	ITF Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe	25,000	Hard	Quinn Gleason	Vladica Babić Rosalie van der Hoek	7–5, 6–4
Win	12–6	Mar 2019	ITF São Paulo, Brazil	25,000	Clay	Paula Cristina Gonçalves	Martina Di Giuseppe Thaisa Grana Pedretti	6–7(4), 6–0, [10–8]
Win	13–6	Mar 2019	ITF Curitiba, Brazil	25,000	Clay	Paula Cristina Gonçalves	Ekaterine Gorgodze Daniela Seguel	6–7(3), 7–6(0), [10–2]
Loss	13–7	May 2019	ITF Cagnes-sur-Mer, France	80,000	Clay	Beatriz Haddad Maia	Anna Blinkova Xenia Knoll	6–4, 2–6, [12–14]
Win	14–7	Jun 2019	ITF Ilkley, UK	100,000	Grass	Beatriz Haddad Maia	Ellen Perez Arina Rodionova	6–4, 6–7(5), [10–4]
Win	15–7	Nov 2019	ITF Colina, Chile (2)	60,000	Clay	Hayley Carter	Anna Danilina Conny Perrin	5–7, 6–3, [10–6]

Notes

References

External links

• Luisa Stefani at the Women's Tennis Association
• Luisa Stefani at the International Tennis Federation
• Luisa Stefani at the Billie Jean King Cup

На других языках

[de] Luisa Stefani

[es] Luisa Stefani

[it] Luisa Stefani

[ru] Стефани, Луиза